Welcome to BE Healthy!
BE Healthy! is an initiative of the HBEP. BE Healthy! Is about creating a healthy work and study place for Built Environment (BE) Faculty staff and students, as well as visitors to the BE.
BE Healthy! aims to raise awareness about how the Faculty can be a healthier place in which to work, study and learn. We hope that others outside the BE will be inspired to adopt some of the ideas on our website about improving health in their workplace and/or educational setting.
The BE Healthy! website has practical suggestions for healthy workplaces and educational settings. We focus on three main issues:
We are keen to hear your suggestions about being more active, ideas for relaxation and de-stressing and where you can find delicious and healthy food on or near the campus. Email us at: hbep@unsw.edu.au with your ideas and experiences.
So how can we BE healthy at work and study?
BE Active
Why is it important to be active? Research shows that our sedentary work life poses a real danger to our health – both in the short and longer term. Sitting for lengthy periods is a big part of the problem. For some useful information on this topic from the Australian Heart Foundation please click here .
Practical Tips for Being Active In and Around the BE
Intentional Physical Activity
The University Fitness and Aquatic Centre is open daily and provides a vast range of opportunities for being active. These include fitness classes and sporting clubs, all of which are open to staff as well as students.
If structured physical activity in the gym is not your cup of tea, you’re not alone. Physical activity guidelines state we should try to be active for at least 30 minutes, on most days. This can be collated through shorter bursts of activity and there are plenty of opportunities to incorporate these bursts into your day to day life in the BE.
For example:
Take the Stairs: Only use the lift if you need to and take the stairs if you can. You might have seen our stair prompts around the Red Centre. This doesn’t mean you have to take the stairs every time, why not start aiming to use the stairs just once a day and work up from there?
Making Your Drive to Work Active: Park your car further away from your destination and walk the rest of the way. Remember that you might be returning to your car after dark so ensure your return walk will be well lit and safe. Unibeat staff can escort you from your building to car parks, bus stops, taxi ranks or a limited local area around the UNSW Kensington Campus. Services are available from 6pm - midnight. If you feel unsafe returning to your car or bus at night, give them a call before you leave on 9385 6000 or 1800 626 003.
Active Transport: Leave the car at home entirely and try walking or cycling to Uni. UNSW Transport maintains a website full of information on using alternative transport to get to campus ( http://www.transport.unsw.edu.au/ ). In particular, there is a lot of support for cycling on campus - the UNSW Bike Club will even lend you a bike for free to try it out (see www.unswbikeclub.org.au)!
Public Transport: If you use public transport, why not hop off the bus a few stops from your destination and walk the rest of the way?
Lunchtime Walking: Go for a walk at lunch time. By virtue of topography, our campus is naturally a great place to walk for fitness. A daily 20 minute walk up the hill and back can make the world of difference to physical and mental well-being. Coming soon are some suggestions of walks around campus and into the neighbourhood. To get started here is a map of the campus .
Physical Activity: Making Inactive Work Active
The average academic, professional and student lifestyle makes it very easy to sit too much. There are many ways you can incorporate more incidental physical activity into your working day. Simply breaking up the time we spend sitting can have vast benefits for health. Here are some tips to turn your relatively inactive job into one that is full of activity:
Stand Up! Aim to stand up and take a break from your computer every 30 minutes. There are plenty of ways you can remind yourself to do this. For example, many people set an alarm on their computer or phone. You might find, however, that less structured queues to stand work better for you. For example:
- make a point to stand to greet visitors to your workspace
- stand up to answer the phone
- move your bin away from your desk so you have to stand up to put something in it
For more useful information on this topic from the Australian Heart Foundation please click here .
Standing Meetings: Consider standing for some items in regular meetings. In the City Futures Research Centre we now have 'standing items' on our meeting agendas. This is an opportunity for those who wish, to stand for that item.
Walking Meetings:
Why not try a walking meeting? These can be great for brainstorming meetings. Fresh air and a new visual outlook creates a great environment for the generation of new ideas.
Get Outside!
Eat your lunch away from your desk. This not only gives you a break from your workspace, walking to a different venue or even park bench for lunch is a great opportunity to get 10 minutes of physical activity, as well as fresh air and variety.
BEing Comfortable: Finally, if your workspace is set up correctly you will have more energy and enthusiasm to be active throughout the day. Click here for the University’s ‘Guide to Setting Up Your Workstation’ http://www.ohs.unsw.edu.au/officesafety/workstation_setup.html OR https://www.ohs.unsw.edu.au/hs_procedures_forms/guides/HS705_Guide_to_setting_up_your_workstation.pdf
BE Relaxed
Stress and anxiety at work and study are common in high pressure environments like Universities. Being relaxed, relieving stress and remaining connected to those around us are all key to both mental and physical health and well-being.
Practical Tips for Being Relaxed In and Around the BE
BEing a Relaxed Student For students, the University Counselling and Psychological Services team offer an extensive and professionally led series of workshops on topics such as dealing with exam stress and improving mood. They also run regular free meditation and mindfulness groups during semester. See https://student.unsw.edu.au/wellbeing-workshops-and-seminars for further information.
Mindfulness for Staff : A drop in meditation and mindfulness group is also run for staff on Tuesdays between 12 and 1pm in room 334, level 3 of the Robert Webster Building. Classes are $15. For more information contact Patricia Morgan at p.morgan@unsw.edu.au.
Mindful Walking : You don’t have to engage in a structured activity to gain the benefits of taking time out to de-stress and be ‘mindful’. Taking ten minutes to go outside and ‘walk mindfully’ can be a great way to reset, recharge and enable a positive return to the remainder of your day. Walking mindfully simply means walking with awareness. The intention is to ‘just walk’ – not to exercise or to get anywhere, but to engage in the physical experience of walking. For more information on walking mindfully click here http://emedia.rmit.edu.au/communication/index.htm
BEing Connected: Joining a social or interest group is also a great way to de-stress. Being part of a University community gives access to a wide array of groups, most of which are keen to welcome new members. Click here for information on clubs at UNSW (http://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/clubs).
BEing Involved: Sharing your skills and lending support and mentorship to others can also bring an intrinsic sense of wellbeing. Students who are in at least their 2nd year at UNSW can be mentors. All mentors are provided with comprehensive training to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and confidence to support new students. For more information see: https://student.unsw.edu.au/peer-mentoring . There are many other ways for both staff and students to become involved in mentor programs on campus. For information see: http://www.studentlifelearning.unsw.edu.au/programs.html .
BE Nourished
Being well nourished is also important in building physical and mental resilience. Unhealthy eating is a well researched risk factor to many of the chronic non-communicable diseases prevalent in modern society. Accessing healthy food, however, can be difficult when deadlines loom and work hours increase. It seems particularly difficult on campus where junk food in large portions seems to dominate the food options available. With a little awareness and planning, however, you can ensure you always have access to healthy food.
Practical Tips for Accessing Healthy Food In and Around the BE
Thoughtful Foods UNSW Food Co-op: Thoughtful Foods is a volunteer-run co-operative selling minimally packaged, ethically produced, non-genetically modified and affordable whole foods and household products to the UNSW community and beyond. Click here for more information.
Stock Market: Located in the Mathews Building on upper campus, Stock Market supplies some of UNSW’s healthiest and best value lunch options on campus. The make your own salad is a favourite, with queues often piling up outside the building. You can avoid the queues however by faxing through your order. Simply tick your options and fax through by 11am and they will make your salad or soup ready for you to jump the queue and collect straight from the register. Order sheets are available from their shop front in the Mathews Building. The walk up the hill is an added bonus!
Make Your Own: Making and bringing your own lunch and snacks is a way to avoid the temptation of junk food and save money. For students, there are various places on campus to access kitchenette facilities and throw together a sandwich or heat up leftovers. The ARC maintains a Student Welfare Room which provides not only kitchen facilities but a free healthy breakfast. See their guide at http://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/media/25774/cheapskates-2010-v2.pdf for information on both these services, including the very helpful “Microwave Map”. Staff and postgraduate students at the BE also have access to kitchen facilities where they can store and prepare food. For more information contact Suzie Scandurra at s.scandurra@unsw.edu.au To purchase supplies, the closest supermarkets to campus are Coles Randwick (148 Belmore Rd) and Food Works Kensington (256 Anzac Parade).
Healthy Catering in the BE: Catering for an event in the BE and want it to be healthy? Here are some great ideas from the Heart Foundation on healthy catering: http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/information-for-professionals/food-professionals/Pages/catering-preparing-foods.aspx